COMPANY

Name: Lifesaver 

Legal Name: Lifesaver Inc

Location: New York City, New York

Founded: 2016

Founder(s): Karen Rios, Corey Beebe

Website: https://www.getlifesaver.com/ 

Social Media Following: 1022 Followers on Twitter, 76 Followers on Instagram

Reviews: 5 star rating on App Store

INDUSTRY – Fintech

Size: $111.8 billion in 2018

Projections: $305.7 billion by 2023

Introduction

Lifesaver is a personal finance app that aims to connect primarily underserved consumers with the specific financial services they’re looking for, or better yet, with the financial services they may not even be equipped to know they’re looking for. It aims to connect consumers from the demographics that may be overlooked by traditional financial institutions, and while simultaneously allowing smaller financial institutions to connect with a large new group of sticky mobile users without additional advertising or expenditure on infrastructure. It primarily targets young consumers, and its social media presence on Twitter and Instagram reflects this. 

The Product

The Lifesaver app has a clean, engaging and easy-to-use interface that aims to provide users with a complete financial “ecosystem”. Meant for users of a variety of financial statuses, the app first allows you to input your level of existing savings and monthly income, and allows you to manage all your banking and financial product accounts in one place.

The app’s Game Plan service lets users input their saving “goals”, as matched against their expenditures, and provides avenues and suggestions (such as specific investments) through which they can best meet their targets.

In addition to helping users meet their savings and investment goals through tailored suggestions and information based on their income and expenditure, it also matches users looking for financial services (such as loans), with the financial institutions that could best serve their purposes. This, as Lifesaver’s website claims, levels the playing field for both customers, and financial institutions. 

The Lifesaver app is available for free download on iOS devices and enjoys a 5-star rating on the App Store.

Origin and Founding Team

Lifesaver was founded by Karen Rios and Corey Beebe. 

Co-founder and CEO Karen Rios holds a BA from Columbia University, and also studied at the Sorbonne in Paris. She worked on the Obama campaign, and for an educational technology startup. Following this, she served as the Chief Compliance Officer at Seminole Management Company, where she was the first Latina and the youngest ever employee to reach C-level status. 

Co-founder and CTO Corey Beebe holds a BA from Louisiana State University and a certificate in journalism from Columbia University. He claims to be a self-taught programmer specializing in native mobile development, and previously worked in operations, sales, and marketing for Columbia University.